Of course, high scores in the tests are also important. We've devised a system for aggregating their results to yield a rating from 0 to We also subject every product to our own hands-on test of malware protection, in part to get a feeling for how the product works.
Depending on how thoroughly the product prevents malware installation, it can earn up to 10 points for malware protection. Our malware protection test necessarily uses the same set of samples for months.
To check a product's handling of brand-new malware, we test each product using a large collection of extremely new malware-hosting URLs supplied by MRG-Effitas , noting what percentage of them it blocked. Products get equal credit for preventing all access to the malicious URL and for wiping out the malware during download. Some products earn stellar ratings from the independent labs, yet don't fare as well in our hands-on tests.
In such cases, we defer to the labs, as they bring significantly greater resources to their testing. Want to know more? You can dig in for a detailed description of how we test security software.
Antivirus products distinguish themselves by going beyond the basics of on-demand scanning and real-time malware protection. Some rate URLs that you visit or that show up in search results, using a red-yellow-green color-coding system.
Some actively block processes on your system from connecting with known malware-hosting URLs or with fraudulent phishing pages. Software has flaws, and sometimes those flaws affect your security. Prudent users keep Windows and all programs patched, fixing those flaws as soon as possible. The vulnerability scan offered by some antivirus products can verify that all necessary patches are present, and even apply any that are missing.
Spyware comes in many forms, from hidden programs that log your every keystroke to Trojans that masquerade as valid programs while mining your personal data. Any antivirus should handle spyware, along with all other types of malware, but some include specialized components devoted to spyware protection.
You expect an antivirus to identify and eliminate bad programs, and to leave good programs alone. What about unknowns, programs it can't identify as good or bad? Behavior-based detection can, in theory, protect you against malware that's so new researchers have never encountered it. However, this isn't always an unmixed blessing. It's not uncommon for behavioral detection systems to flag many innocuous behaviors performed by legitimate programs.
Whitelisting is another approach to the problem of unknown programs. A whitelist-based security system only allows known good programs to run. Unknowns are banned. This mode doesn't suit all situations, but it can be useful. Sandboxing lets unknown programs run, but it isolates them from full access to your system, so they can't do permanent harm. These various added layers serve to enhance your protection against malware. Firewalls and spam filtering aren't common antivirus features, but some of our top products include them as bonuses.
In fact, some of these antivirus products are more feature-packed than certain products sold as security suites. Among the other bonus features you'll find are secure browsers for financial transactions, secure deletion of sensitive files, wiping traces of computer and browsing history, credit monitoring, virtual keyboard to foil keyloggers, cross-platform protection, and more. And of course, we've already mentioned sandboxing, vulnerability scanning, and application whitelisting.
We're seeing more and more antivirus products adding modules specifically designed for ransomware protection. Some work by preventing unauthorized changes to protected files. Others keep watch for suspicious behaviors that suggest malware.
That includes an intelligent firewall, an integrated TunnelBear -powered VPN with unlimited data, a quality spam filter, secure file vault, and some PC speed-up options.
The main stumbling block here is that the antivirus engine itself is not the best out there — although some results from independent test labs come out better than others — but this has to be something of a concern.
Further up the Webroot range, SecureAnywhere Internet Security Plus expands coverage from Windows and Mac PCs to mobile devices, also providing a password manager courtesy of LastPass and covering up to five devices rather than three. And at the top of the tree is Internet Security Complete which introduces an automatic backup tool with 25GB of secure cloud storage and additional online privacy features. SecureAnywhere AntiVirus gives you everything you need, really, although Internet Security Plus is our top pick for the most rounded package.
Sophos Home Premium covers up to an impressive 10 devices Windows and Mac computers. Sophos provides capable virus protection, and worked well in passing our own anti-ransomware tests. For the antivirus software on offer — and given the 10 device ceiling — Sophos Home Premium could work out as a great value proposition for those who want to protect multiple computers. Just note that Sophos no longer offers a long-term free version to new users.
You'll see on the website you can download it for free, but that's just a trial version rather than an all-singing all-dancing free antivirus package. We've tested all of the biggest names in internet security, we've found that the very best antivirus software in is Bitdefender.
It's a superb bit of software - from its entry-level Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and its cast-iron malware defenses, excellent threat detection and genuinely value-adding extra features, right up to its all-singing, all-dancing Total Security that adds an array of maintenance tools and can be used to protect your family's computers, tablets and phones. An antivirus app sits on your device like a guard dog, watching over the entire system and sniffing out any intruders malware , or indeed anything suspicious.
In short, it offers real-time defenses against viruses or other threats, which if detected are immediately dealt with, preventing them from carrying out their destructive payload.
As well as this automated protection, you can run manual virus scans whenever you wish. Think of these as the fingerprints of malware, and if something is spotted coming onto your system that has a matching fingerprint, the antivirus leaps into action, quarantining the offender. For more details on this topic, see our full breakdown of exactly how antivirus software works. The obvious answer is staring you in the face Consult our rankings in this article, which is based on our expert knowledge and thorough, continually updated reviews of the top antivirus players.
That said, obviously you also have to bear in mind your own particular needs. Or at the other end of the scale, maybe you have a large family with a ton of devices to protect, and you need a package to cater for that. Or maybe you want a VPN service as well as antivirus, so a bundled package will save you a lot of money on subscription fees. In short, our recommendations are here as firm guidance, but modify these appropriately based on your individual requirements.
For more thoughts on this, check out our article exploring how to choose the best antivirus. The good news is that the best antivirus products are getting cheaper and cheaper to purchase, and free products are getting more and more effective A good free antivirus — like the ones we recommend on this page below — is a perfectly reasonable option for protecting your PC, with Microsoft Defender now the best we've ever seen it.
That said, premium antivirus programs offer extra features above and beyond the fundamentals. A robust system of parental controls could be a huge win for those with kids, for example.
Or a dedicated anti-ransomware layer of protection that only comes with the paid-for product could help catch one of the most dreaded infections and halt it in its tracks. For more on this, read our full piece on whether free antivirus is enough to protect you.
Or just keep scrolling as we reveal today's best free antivirus software providers Paying for a premium service means you get more features like spam filters, parental controls, system scans and advanced firewalls.
This makes them more suitable for power users, those who want a bit of extra security and anyone who needs their system to run as smoothly as possible. It also means you avoid annoying pop-ups that try and tempt you to upgrade to the full version. In fact, these days you can get top quality protection absolutely free, with just about every single major vendor out there offering a free antivirus.
Avira Free Antivirus is today's best free security download If you're determined to get free antivirus, we strongly suggest that you go for our pick of best security downloads - Avira Free Antivirus. We've highlighted its long list of features below, together with information on how well it performs at independent testing labs.
A very impressive freebie. That's pretty good for a freebie, and why we have no qualms at all in naming it as our 1 best free antivirus download. As well as the essential security smarts, we also love the clean, friendly interface and the fact it has a track record of throwing up minimal false positives. In fact, the list of features reads more like a fully paid premium package. It throws in identity protection, a password manager, anti-scam protection to prevent phishing attempts, and even a PC cleaner to keep your system spick and span.
If there's one thing we'd change then it's the tad overeager badgering - although popups and advertisements are very common to free products, and that doesn;t prevent us from wholeheartedly recommending Avira Free Antivirus.
Review and where to download: Avira Free Antivirus. Avast and AVG haven't yet fully merged, despite the former formally acquiring the latter in mid The newly combined company says the two free antivirus products will remain separate, although there's apparently a joint AV package on the way soon.
Obviously, though, Avast now has a lot more data to work with, having expanded its effective userbase and, therefore, its threat detection network to a whopping million users. The latest edition of Avast's free antivirus - now branded Avast One Essential - adds an automatic gaming mode to mute popups and reduce system load when you're firing up a processor-hungry game, which is very handy indeed, and the interface has been given a clean new overhaul. There's a password manager, too, which is an undeniably good addition to your security portfolio.
It scores well on AV-TEST's widespread malware benchmark and continues a clean sweep against 0-day attacks — presumably that expanded detection network is really helping.
Less impressive is the slight negative effect Avast has on software launch times, and its slightly popup-heavy attitude. This includes building a mechanism to allow most customers to request refunds automatically; Ensuring customers are made aware, up front, that their contract will auto-renew, the price they will be charged for the product upon automatic renewal and when the money will be taken; Where the price will be higher on auto-renewal, not giving the impression that the initial price represents a saving by comparison.
Undertakings The investigation is currently focused on a number of areas associated with the automatic renewal of subscriptions, including: whether consumers expressly agree to be automatically renewed if there is express agreement to pay a higher price when auto-renewed and if not whether businesses can charge a higher price whether customers can easily prevent renewal whether they should be entitled to refunds if they no longer want or need the service We have written to a number of anti-virus firms following concerns that some of their practices and terms associated with the automatic renewal of subscriptions may breach consumer law, and we have required them to provide information to understand more about their practices.
Launch of enforcement investigation 19 December The investigation will examine whether the business practices and terms and conditions associated with the automatic renewal of subscriptions are fair. In particular, the investigation will consider: whether automatic renewal is set as the default option whether notification of renewal is sent and, if so, the timing of the notification when renewal payments are taken and whether the renewed subscriptions are charged at a different price to the original subscription We expect to provide an update in early Related content Tackling the loyalty penalty Cloud storage: consumer compliance review CMA tackles loyalty penalty charges Online dating services Car rental intermediaries: consumer compliance review.
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Check out our article on the signs you have malware. By Neil J. Rubenking 4 Jan , p. Top Picks. Best For Comprehensive Free Security. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free offers full-scale malware protection along with some suite-level features. It gets superb scores from the independent labs, and it won't cost you a penny. Best For Few-Frills Protection. PROS Excellent scores from three labs Very good scores in all our hands-on tests Free Boot-time scan removes persistent malware Some useful bonus features CONS Initial scan slower than average Fixing found performance issues requires upgrade Boot-time scan can be very slow.
Best For Many Security Components. Avira Free Security goes beyond basic antivirus with dozens of security-related utilities. However, many require payment for full functionality. Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center protects Windows 10 PCs that have no other antivirus protection, and it has significantly improved in lab test results and our own hands-on tests. Best For Brand Loyalists. See it. Best for Excellent Lab Test Scores.
Kaspersky Security Cloud Free. Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center. Best for Brand Loyalists. Adaware Antivirus Free. Our Pick. Excellent 4. Good 3. About Neil J. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. By , he had become PC Magazine 's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter.
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